Making Sense of Humanity PDF Download

Author: Bernard Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521478687
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268

View

Book Description
Collection of philosophical papers

Author: Evelyn Fox KELLER
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674039440
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

View

Book Description
What do biologists want? How will we know when we have 'made sense' of life? Explanations in the biological sciences are provisional and partial, judged by criteria as heterogenous as their subject matter. This text accounts for this diversity.

Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062857800
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 435

View

Book Description
A New York Times New and Noteworthy Book From the bestselling author of Waking Up and The End of Faith, an adaptation of his wildly popular, often controversial podcast “Sam Harris is the most intellectually courageous man I know, unafraid to speak truths out in the open where others keep those very same thoughts buried, fearful of the modish thought police. With his literate intelligence and fluency with words, he brings out the best in his guests, including those with whom he disagrees.” -- Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene “Civilization rests on a series of successful conversations.” —Sam Harris Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and bestselling author—has been exploring some of the most important questions about the human mind, society, and current events on his podcast, Making Sense. With over one million downloads per episode, these discussions have clearly hit a nerve, frequently walking a tightrope where either host or guest—and sometimes both—lose their footing, but always in search of a greater understanding of the world in which we live. For Harris, honest conversation, no matter how difficult or controversial, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress. This book includes a dozen of the best conversations from Making Sense, including talks with Daniel Kahneman, Timothy Snyder, Nick Bostrom, and Glenn Loury, on topics that range from the nature of consciousness and free will, to politics and extremism, to living ethically. Together they shine a light on what it means to “make sense” in the modern world.

Author: Sheila Jasanoff
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509522743
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 113

View

Book Description
Since the discovery of the structure of DNA and the birth of the genetic age, a powerful vocabulary has emerged to express science’s growing command over the matter of life. Armed with knowledge of the code that governs all living things, biology and biotechnology are poised to edit, even rewrite, the texts of life to correct nature’s mistakes. Yet, how far should the capacity to manipulate what life is at the molecular level authorize science to define what life is for? This book looks at flash points in law, politics, ethics, and culture to argue that science’s promises of perfectibility have gone too far. Science may have editorial control over the material elements of life, but it does not supersede the languages of sense-making that have helped define human values across millennia: the meanings of autonomy, integrity, and privacy; the bonds of kinship, family, and society; and the place of humans in nature.

Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 143917122X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 322

View

Book Description
Sam Harris dismantles the most common justification for religious faith--that a moral system cannot be based on science.

Author: Carolyn Korsmeyer
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 080147132X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

View

Book Description
Taste, perhaps the most intimate of the five senses, has traditionally been considered beneath the concern of philosophy, too bound to the body, too personal and idiosyncratic. Yet, in addition to providing physical pleasure, eating and drinking bear symbolic and aesthetic value in human experience, and they continually inspire writers and artists. Carolyn Korsmeyer explains how taste came to occupy so low a place in the hierarchy of senses and why it is deserving of greater philosophical respect and attention. Korsmeyer begins with the Greek thinkers who classified taste as an inferior, bodily sense; she then traces the parallels between notions of aesthetic and gustatory taste that were explored in the formation of modern aesthetic theories. She presents scientific views of how taste actually works and identifies multiple components of taste experiences. Turning to taste's objects—food and drink—she looks at the different meanings they convey in art and literature as well as in ordinary human life and proposes an approach to the aesthetic value of taste that recognizes the representational and expressive roles of food. Korsmeyer's consideration of art encompasses works that employ food in contexts sacred and profane, that seek to whet the appetite and to keep it at bay; her selection of literary vignettes ranges from narratives of macabre devouring to stories of communities forged by shared eating.

Author: Samuel Barondes
Publisher: FT Press
ISBN: 0132172879
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

View

Book Description
Every day, we evaluate the people around us: It's one of the most important things we ever do. Making Sense of People provides the scientific frameworks and tools we need to improve our intuition, and assess people more consciously, systematically, and effectively. Leading neuroscientist Samuel H. Barondes explains the research behind each standard personality category: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. He shows readers how to use these traits and assessments to do a better job of deciding who they'll enjoy spending time with, whom to trust, and whom to keep at a distance. Barondes explains: What neuroscience and psychological research can tell us about how personality types develop and cohere. The intertwined roles of genes, nurture, and education in personality development. How to recognize troublesome personality patterns such as narcissism, sociopathy, and paranoia. How much a child's behavior predicts their adult personality, and how personality stabilizes in young adulthood. How to assess integrity, fairness, wisdom, and other traits related to morality. What genetic testing may (or may not) teach us about personality in the future. General strategies for getting along with people, with specific tactics for special circumstances. Kirkus Reviews A succinct look at personality psychology. As a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of California, Barondes (Molecules and Mental Illness, 2007, etc.) has spent years studying human behavior, and this book reflects his systematic, scientific approach for personality assessment. The average person isn't likely to have time to research a difficult boss or potential love interest, but the author supplements intuition with a useful cornerstone for gauging human behavior: a table of the "Big Five" personality traits, among them Extraversion vs. Introversion and Agreeableness vs. Antagonism. To learn how to apply the Big Five, Barondes supplies a link for a professional online personality test, in addition to a basic introduction of troubling personality patterns–e.g., narcissism and compulsiveness. While genetics may play a heavy hand in influencing personality, Barondes writes, it's awareness of a person's background, character and life story that is paramount in unearthing reasons for adult behavior. Readers might like to see the author weave more everyday examples into the text–his exercise in fostering compassion by imagining an adult as a 10-year-old child is a gem–but there is plenty here to ponder. Those looking for traditional "self-help" advice won't find it here, but this book clearly lays the groundwork for deeper human interaction and better life relationships.

Author: Anita Carman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780977290512
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318

View

Book Description
Life's changes can be overwhelming. One day, you're conquering the world, and then it hits: Loss of friends. Betrayal. Unexpected delays. Trouble with kids. Marital tension. Ministry needs. Unemployment. Caring for aging loved ones.How do you reconnect the dots and make sense of your life? Anita Carman, founder and president of the ministry Inspire Women, opens the Book of John and studies the disciple Jesus loved, the man who never stopped serving. In Making Sense of Your Life, she uncovers seven principles that will help you tie your own broken dreams and unexpected changes back to the person and purpose of an eternal God. Each principle comes with a week-long devotional for self-reflection or small group study.

Author: Catherine M. Rakow
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000622835
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 289

View

Book Description
• Covers an important period of Bowen’s life (leading to the development of his theory) which is currently largely unexplored. • Explains not only Bowen’s theory, but his research methodology, an approach to gathering observational data and integrating that data into a framework that will guide future practice and research. • Supports the development of a scientific community interested in extending our common understanding of human life. • A truly original book which draws from over twenty years of archival work into Bowen’s life and work.

Author: Tia DeNora
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473905516
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

View

Book Description
What is reality and how do we make sense of it in everyday life? Why do some realities seem more real than others, and what of seemingly contradictory and multiple realities? This book considers reality as we represent, perceive and experience it. It suggests that the realities we take as ‘real’ are the result of real-time, situated practices that draw on and draw together many things - technologies and objects, people, gestures, meanings and media. Examining these practices illuminates reality (or rather our sense of it) as always ‘virtually real’, that is simplified and artfully produced. This examination also shows us how the sense of reality that we make is nonetheless real in its consequences. Making Sense of Reality offers students and educators a guide to analysing social life. It develops a performance-based perspective (‘doing things with’) that highlights the ever-revised dimension of realities and links this perspective to a focus on object-relations and an ecological model of culture-in-action.